Executive orders do not a tyrant make [Letter]

The letter from Susan Wolf Dudley demonstrates she has at best only a dim understanding of the U.S. Constitution ("Barack Obama, tyrant-in-chief," Jan. 31). Presidential directives are designed to function when the Congress fails to act in the best interest of the American people and the President of the United States must act in the best interest of the nation.

There are many examples extant including by Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana Purchase) and many by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. There are many more in history, but that is what comes to mind immediately. Ronald Reagan issued something like 713 executive orders and those by George H.W. Bush and his son are far more numerous than those of Barack Obama to date.